120 



THE FARMER'S MONT H L Y V I S I TO R. 



Au gust, 1 842. 



tlie liiirk into the wood; and wlieii lliere are 

 many of lliein, kill tl:o liml), anil soiiielinics the 

 whole tree. 



Scraping their houses off, and washing wiili 

 strong lye, or lime, so.i|) suds, or many other 

 things, will kill tliein. The best time to examine 

 with a I'liiri'-iicppe is a little before snn down, 

 letting till' light stjikcon what yon are observing. 



h i.s .<i,i!« il in the lAlinburg Encyclopedia, that 

 the Miite lake.<five hundred steps iu a second ol 

 time. 1 know not what mites they mean ; hut 

 the mite on old cheese is a very slow walker for 

 so small a thing; five steps instead of five hund- 

 red are all he can make out, and his .-itep-s are 

 easily counted. The mite on the outside of figs, 

 and the weavil in rye meal, and grain, are about 

 the same size of those in cheese; hut they have 

 more legs, and take more steps— perhaps twenty 

 or thirty in a second of lime. 'I'his is the extent. 

 They ail appear very much like cabbage lice on- 

 ly one thousand times smaller. 



This same Encyclopedia says also that the 

 gnat or midge moves his wings two thousand 

 times in a second. Now the heron, and eagle 

 which weigh about ten poimds move their wings 

 but twice a second — the crow twice — tlie swallow 

 three or four times, (which weigh about an 

 ounce) the bund)le bee forty — Ihe honey bee six- 

 ty — the nnisipiitoe one hundred — the gnat about 

 two hundred by "comparing great things with 

 sniall"(as Milton would say)— the partridge, which 

 is larger than the crow, moves her wings oftener, 

 on account of a heavy body, compared with her 

 wings — probably ten or twelve times in a second. 

 So as to bees, they itiove their wings faster than 

 flies because their bodies are heavier in coiniiari- 



It has been said that every i)ebble is peopled 

 with aifunalcida^; and that all fluids are filled 

 with them. I think not so. True in vinegar and 

 other mucilaginous litpiids there are many, and 

 sometimes so large as to be seen with the naked 

 eye, but distilled vinegar or pure water has 

 none. I have not been able to discover but two 

 or three kinds in water ; one looks like an eel, 

 another which is very small like a toad or fiog. 

 In most flowers two or three kinds also can be 

 seen ; the smallest is very like Ihe red lady bug, 

 or garden spider, only a thousand times smaller. 

 You will see the same on rocks, especially where 

 there is new and very fine moss. Their step is 

 not over thirty in a second. 



1 have seen by the solar microscope a louse 

 magnified as large as an ox; but in a drop of 

 pure water thus magnified, tiothiiig was to be 

 seen but water, or perhaps a little dust. There- 

 fore Ido not believe iu these millions of aifiinal- 

 culoB. Indeed, it there were as many as some 

 pretend, I coidd see them with " my"jnicroscope 

 even if they were one himdred times smaller than 

 the red bug in flowers, and on the moss of rock.s, 

 or the frog looking creature in water, which is 

 the smallest I have been able to see. These are 

 sufficiently minute, and ctuious for me, but some 

 people are like my aunt Sally, who could not 

 think of mediocrity; but e>ery thing was the 

 very biggest, or a " leetle the leetlest she ever did 

 see," and her last cold was always the worst. 



I wish some one could tell how to destroy the 

 powder bug on vines. I have tried many ways 

 to no effect — except catching them and knockiiig 

 their brains out. 



The wind was east when 1 wrote the above. 



n. F. 



Stoddard, July IGth, 1842. 



Covered Draius. 



Underdraining should be performed during 

 the dry season, and those farmers who have wet 

 spots of ground in cultivated fields should no 

 longer delay this simple mode of rendering such 

 land ])roductive. 0|)en drains nhould never be 

 made but to carry off surface water. No drain 

 for any other purpo.se should be much less than 

 three feet deep, but an open one this depth must 

 be nme feet wide to prevent the banks sliding, 

 and this is an enormous waste of land. But'a 



covered dnxin 



oocup: 



no gr 



d. The ex- 



pense of digging, from this cause is also much 

 greater in case of open drains. 



Covered drains niny be filled with stone or 

 brush. The stone may be laid so as to leave a 

 small open channel at the bottom ; or if they are 

 quite small, and the quantity of water passing oft 

 Hot large, such channel ie not necessary. Brusb 



drains are filled by placing the branches of trees, 

 freshly cm and villi the leaves on. in a sloping 

 diii'Clii.n i;i tlic ditch, the leaves upwards, and 

 ihfii c-ovcrin;;- tiii'm wiih earth. The sp,ices-be- 

 twceii the branches below allows the water to 

 flow off This method of filling is best in sandy 

 ground where stones are scarce. 



In cutting off underground channels of water, 

 partiiMilarly those whicli ooze out of the surface 

 of sloping ground, by means of covered drains, 

 the mode of ojierating should be adapted to cir- 

 cumstances. The common error is to cut in at 

 the wet spot; whereas, the proper [ilace is a lit- 

 tle above, before t!ie current reaches the siirlage. 

 The juilgmeiit and close exaniiiiarinii alone can 

 ilirect the pro|)er course and situation for the 

 drain in such cases. — Culiivotor. 



The Laboring People of England. 



W^ill the Whig Federalists of this country per- 

 sist In their attempts to fasten upon these United 

 States a sy.stem wliicli h; sheen tried in England, 

 and which has brought a great portion oflhe'peo- 

 ple of that country to the brink ol starvation and 

 death.' The following we copy from the Lon- 

 don Globe of July 4th, brought by the Acadia, 

 whose arrival wc announced yesterday : — Globe. 



"Evidence of the appalling extent an<l disor- 

 ganizing tendency of distress, among the labor- 

 ing population of the country, accumulates with 

 a ra[iidily whirh defies all our attempts to des- 

 cribe it in detail. The conviction is forced upon 

 our minils that we are on the eve of a disriiplion 

 of the social ties, unless immediate and effectual 

 relief be brought to the suffering multitudes who 

 fill the .streets and highways of all the thickly 

 populated portions of the land. The accounts 

 which reach nsbyijvery post, concur in depicting 

 the victims of compulsatory idleness and starva- 

 tion according to law, as becoming more and 

 more fierce in their demeanor, more and more 

 reckless in their conduct, and more and more 

 threatening in their language. Th;it hunger, 

 which breaks ihroiigh stone walls, and braves 

 death in pursuit of the means of lile, is iloing its 

 work among our population with a haste tli.it 

 should arrest the solemn attention of all who 

 dread the consequences of an ignition of the com- 

 bustible masses of .society. 



" We have just learnt from a respectable in- 

 (brmant, who came up fnwn Hull to London in 

 the sleatner W.itei-Wilrh on S.iturday, that there 

 were twenlv-lwo n-nuilsoii lionid— eleven or 

 twelve from" Lccils, and the rest Irom Shclliield. 



he stated that, during, Iburteen days, he had been 

 obliged to subsist on a half penny roll a tiay. All 

 these men declared that their sole motive for en- 

 listing was the want of the necessaries of life, 

 and tliut it was at last a choice between death 

 and the profession of arms. Our intbrinani, who 

 is a member of the select vestry, belonging to 

 the township ol'llolhcck,(Leeds,)says: 'Every 

 day wdiiKii with families apply for relief, whose 

 hiislianils Ij.ivc enlisted or emigrated to escape 

 starvation ; and tliiit many mechanics in Leeds, 

 eighteen months ago, were earning twenty-four 

 shillings per week, are no;v working in the same 

 shops, anil the same length of time, for fifteen 

 shillings |ier week. And yet the Prime Miiusler 

 tell.-; us that he will resolutely oppose that mea- 

 sure which alone promises employment and the 

 means of honest subsistence to the people of this 



"' What a spectacle does this island present! 

 Though no awful visitation has befallen us in the 

 shape of invasion, or civil war, or pestilence, or 

 blight, or earthquake ; and though, as a nation, 

 our power at once of production, consumption, 

 and the currying on of an extensive and honora- 

 ble commerce, is nm'ivalled, we are in a condition, 

 with regard to the most truly deserving portions 

 of the people, which might command the pity of 

 the unlutored savage. This canmjt last. On the 

 ministration, and their majorities in the two 

 Houses, rests the responsibility of those conse- 

 quences which are now apprehended, with trem- 

 bling anxiety, by all who are not blinded by 

 selfishness and the love of party. 



" ' It is THE SPIRIT OF MONOPOLY which 

 has brought us lo Ihe verge ofruiiu It is the spirit 

 of FREE COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE 

 thai must inspire again the drooping, and ahiost 



Unci energies ({four country' " 



A Muck Manual for Farmers. 



BV SAML'IOL L. DANA. 



Dr. Dana has long been known as one of our 

 most accurate aiul learned chemists; and his 

 pnil( >sii.ii:il (Imii s, as connected with the large 

 call. I, iir:i,r,ii- ■ lal.lislitnent at Lowell, have led 

 him Iu uiiiiM- nian\ rare ltd experiments upon sub- 

 jects bearing diiiflly upon agricnlturid chemis- 

 try. He has written his work, therelbre. In the 

 full maturity of experience and judgment. His 

 statements and reasonings are not those of a 

 novice, but we see at once that he has looked at 

 every point again and apaiii, and that he give? ns 

 the final conclusions id' long and patient examin- 

 ation. It is well known that on many points the 

 theory of this science is not fully settled. The 

 author, however, shows, and this wc regard as a 

 most valuable part of his labors,) that these dif- 

 lerent views are of very little practical impor- 

 tance. His own peculiar opinions ho states with 

 great frankness, and merely gives a sunmiary 

 of arguments on which he founds his conclu- 

 sions, with scarcely any personal allusion to those 

 of different views. 



The conilensation of matter in this volume is 

 one of its marked features. The amount of facts 

 and reasonings brought into so small a compass 

 is truly astonishing. We think it is sometimes 

 carried to extreme ; tliat is, it produces obscurity. 

 It is truly a book of apliorisins. There is so 

 much of generalizaiiiMi. iinlcc-d, that we suspect 

 the author will som.ninrs l.e nn.sund.Tstood. it 

 would not be stianiii' if lliis very notice should 

 furnish some examples. 



The present work is a very original one. The 

 author's views, generally, do indeed correspond 

 with those of the most distinguished chemists. 

 But he has his own method of stating, proving, 

 and correcting them ; and wc^ have been agreea- 

 bly surprise<l to see how straight and luminous a 

 path he has cut thronuh the entangled vines anil 

 brushwood of this snbjict. A brief account of 

 his arrangement and (Jomentaiy principles, will 

 give our readers some-idea of iiis manner and 

 matter. 



The whole work is divided iiUoeight chapters. 

 I. The Geology of Soil. 2. The Chemistry of 

 Soil. 3. The Properties and Chemical Aeiionof 

 the Elements of Soil. 4. Of the Organic Con- 

 stituents of Soil, with an Appendix, containing 

 the History of Geiin-. ,5. Of the Mutual Action 

 of the Organic and Inorganic Elements of Soil, 

 (i. Manures. 7. Aniliiial iMainiri^s and Irriga- 

 tion. 8. Physical I'rop.rties of Soil. In the 

 first five chapters he announces, defends and il- 

 lustrates ten fundameiit.'d principles, which con- 

 stitute the essence of agricultural chemi.stry. 

 These we shall cojiy, with a few remarks upuii 

 some of them. 



The first principle is, " that there is one rock, 

 consequently one soil." It is true, that the later 

 rocks contain from 4 to 7 per cent, of lime and 

 magnesia more than the older ones; but since 

 all of them contain enough of these and other 

 mineral ingredients for the wants of plants, an 

 excess of some of them cannot sensibly affect 

 vegetation. The mineral composition of this 

 •'one soil," by a mean of numerous analvse.e, the 

 author stales'to be, in 100 part.<, 8U.3) of sand, or 

 silicates, and 0.85 salts of lime. 



Thus far we agree essentially with the author. 

 But there are some other facts, which lead us to 

 question whether the statement of this first prin- 

 ciple does not require modification. ItcMinot be 

 doubted, iu the first place, that some silicates, 

 (varieties of liildspar, for instance,) are decom- 

 posed, both by atmospheric, agencies and by 

 growing plants, with much more facility than 

 others ; and consequently vegetation obtains fiom 

 some soils the alkali, lime, and silica, which it 

 needs, more easily than liom others. In t!ie sec- 

 ond place, where an extensive region is under- 

 laid by limestone, a large |)er cent, of the soil 

 (from 5 to .30 in some parts of Europe) consists of 

 carbonate of lime, and this is usually more easily 

 decomposed than silicates, and will more readily 

 supply carbonic acid. 



The second principle is, that " rocks do not af- 

 fect the vegetation ii'hich covers them." Here again, 

 while we agree with the author that this princi- 

 ple is generally true, far more generally so than 

 is commonly admitted, we would suggest to liiin 

 whether there are not exceptions to it, too impor- 

 tant to be overlooked in slating it. A similar dif- 



